Customer Service UK and Europe time moved to Philippines. Terrible service

[Simone387]

As  a Superhost of 7 years, I'm finding the move to the Philippines for English speaking host support is taking up a massive amount of my time and costing me alot of money. Are other hosts finding that the move to the Philippines of customer service is costing them money? I am finding that often they speak English but do not understand it (ie they make errors due to not understanding the issue), phone calls are randomely cut off if they are unable to deal with your issue, case managers are no better. If you are cut off nobody calls you back, nor do I receive emails confirming issue with a case reference number.  It seems  they are not trained above very basic level and so I know the platform far better than they. As  a Superhost, when I call Customer Service its because I need someone who has a greater knowledge than me, not significantly less and who, in addition has no English comprehension skills.

Examples being: glitch whereby my listing was showing at £88000 pounds for a single night - they didn't understand that was alot of money - for them it was open and bookable

When a listing wasn't coming up in searches for specific dates, I kept be told that my dates were available in my calender -  I knew that -  I was calling because they were not showing up in searches

I had a guest leave early, happy with the accommodation but I wanted to re list the now free days - they assumed (I have a strict cancellation policy) that I wanted to refund the guests and contacted the guests to offer a refund.

I am so sick of dealing with the Philippines - it is not a customer service it is someone on the end of a phone who speaks some English, understands less, is not familiar with the airbnb platform beyond the most basic level. I've lost thousands of pounds in booking fees/reservations due to these issues. Fortunately I do speak french and so on one occasion managed to call france airbnb to get my issue resolved. Airbnb customer service  in English used to be superb. I can only imagine its been moved to Asia to save money on salaries, however, for me anyway, its a false economy because if I'm losing all that money, airbnb are also losing their fee on all the reservations I have missed out on due to this terrible customer service. If its not urgent now I try to call in Sanfransisco time and if I am randomly routed to the Philippines, put the phone down and dial again. This isn't possible though when Sanfransico is closed. I've worked really really hard to become a Superhost and its so frustrating to be losing so much money due to this. 

[Helen3]

No that has not been my experience at all @Simone387  As an experienced host I don’t need to contact the call centres too much.

However when i do, I find the staff  knowledgeable and helpful ( they have used overseas call centre for at least three yeas by the way so nothing new).

If you wanted to open up your calendar after a guest left early you could have asked the guest to amend or cancel the booking from the date they were leaving. 

There was never a UK call centre but an Irish one that you still get connected to .

[Simone387]

Hi,  thanks for your feedback - UK of course includes Ireland. I very rarely post on these boards and know, sadly, that the Philippine situation is nothing new and so its just after one more bad situation  I decided to post here to find out others experiences but also in the hope Airbnb will take on board my feedback. The Irish call centre is not that easy to get through to - I have to call back several times each time I get to the Philipines to wait till I get routed to Ireland or America. When I do call airbnb as an experienced Superhost, it's because theres a glitch in the platform or an unusual situaiton has occurred that I haven't previously encountered.

The person who made the booking  on my recent reservation was not the person who stayed as it was a business trip.  In any event - I didn't want to ask them to cancel, or to give a refund - why would I as I'm on Strict Cancellation policy and the guests had decided to fly back early as their business trip ended early. I  just wanted to free up my calender as I knew it was empty in the hope of getting another booking. In addition it was not office hours and the indiviidual that booked would not have known that the guests had left early. The only  work around was to list it as a new listing  which was time consuming.  Clearly we have both had very different experiences of the Philippines. For me, its got to the point that I avoid UK hours when I can and try my best to get routed to somehwere other than the Philipines by keeping calling back if I have to call.  My experience is that the Phillipines have not once managed to resolve my issue and on occasion made it worse and taken up huge amounts of my time. As Superhosts of course we need less support than less experienced hosts, but when we do need it we need trained advisors who have a greater knowledge than ourselves. This is not my experience. 

[Gordon0]

Like @Helen3, I don't speak to CS very often as I'd rather fix issues myself (if I can). I try to make some assumptions as to the 'what if' scenarios. For the early leaver, I'd have let it go and enjoyed a little less stress for the days I'd already been paid. You could have almost guaranteed that one would have gone awry before even making the call. 

Many businesses have had to increase their offering (often going offshore) because the increasing draw (by some users) on their service.  The Philippines is a popular choice due to their empathy and accent. Whether it works for the power user like you, @Simone387, with several listings, remains to be seen. As for the smaller fish amongst us, I'm getting by.

This style of service is representative of how the world is moving away from the 'old' ways. For example, my local supermarket has cut 70% of their full-service tills and now has 'scan and shop' devices. Are there still people to answer the 'where's the butter' type questions (even tho there's  HUGE sign saying where it is) in store? For now, yes.

[Simone387]

One way or another I estimate to have lost several thousand pounds ( well over 10,000 pounds) of bookings due to the Philippines, so I'm not keen on this new service) . Letting go one thousand pounds a night due to it being a big Monaco event is a bit galling to say the least. 

[Simone387]

Not saying the Phillipinos don't have a nice accent or arent nice people - but they are not trained and in general are not fluent in English. Thats the problem here. 

[Gordon0]

@Simone387 - what benefit do you think can be had by necroposting? If it makes you feel better, fill your boots. Or perhaps write to the CEO. 

[Simone387]

No need to be like that. I'm not used to these threads as normally busy doing other things, like trying to run my businesses. Unlike some people who I've seen today  seem to be on here daily I guess with nothing better to do. Anyway, over and out Gordon.  Have a nice weekend. I'd never thought to write to the CEO  - seriously? Do you really think I haven't already done that?  Thats why I'm posting on here in the hope that it makes it way there better than an email. Toodiloo. 

[Gordon0]

>>I'm not used to these threads as normally busy doing other things, like trying to run my businesses<<

You've searched for and necroposted several old threads. Clearly you do have the time, perhaps through the magic of multi-tasking.

>>Unlike some people who I've seen today  seem to be on here daily I guess with nothing better to do<<

I've broken my ankle and am in recovery, so yes, I do have better things I could be doing, but I can't (besides taking care of my 250th+ guest).

People are on here for a variety of reasons, and until forum police are appointed, it's their choice as to how involved they are, and why.   

>>Thats why I'm posting on here in the hope that it makes it way there better than an email.<<

This isn't an Airbnb-staffed forum, so I'd question your hopes.

>>Toodiloo.<<

I'm in London, it's 2019, not Highclere Castle (AKA Downton Abbey) circa 1929. 

Good luck getting your message across. Some swear by Twitter.

[Julie536]

Dear Simone,

i live in the uk and have had the same problem - very polite assistants on phone calls to Airbnb but as you say poor comprehension of the problem with no effective resolution. This results in multiple calls and unhelpful email responses from Airbnb.  I've lost multiple bookings this year..

Good Luck

Best Wishes

Julie